Monthly Archives: July 2017

I’m here with exciting news and updates about my writing (yes, finally!) and my health. Let’s start with the latter.

As you know, I had to have my pacemaker changed, but don’t worry I’m doing fine except for the pain here and then (it’s normal, it’s only been a week!). I’m taking more time for myself through sitting still, reading, writing, and meditating.

Speaking of writing, I’ve had a perfect idea for a novella! Yes! This means that I’ll focus on structuring the idea (I’ve had the plot in general!) and writing it. It’s a YA fantasy about a young girl with quite the temper who meets with the Seelie court (or the fairy realm, if you prefer). It’s going to be fun and lovely! Of course, I shall update you regularly on how the writing of the novella goes because it has now become one of my two main projects.

(As a proof, here is the temporary title I am using for my novella – it’s more of a practical use than a real title, but it does the job for now. I’m still brainstorming the right one while I create the outline and research fairies!)

I found two helpful articles on how to write a novella. The first is from The Lady Writer and I think it’s actually the best of the two for it even tells you what are the scenes you need in your outline and it makes use of her 8-stage plot, which I prefer over the uninspiring (in my opinion and experience) 3-act structure. The second is an article from NowNovel, a writing platform I adore, which gives you six tips on writing your novella.

As for my novel project, I don’t even know where or how to start talking about it, but I’ll try. I’ve been stuck for months, as you probably guessed it from my previous posts, but this week I had an epiphany: I’d found the main storyline! So, yesterday, I sat down to write what I thought would save the story… only to find out it was not enough. I’m angry because I can never seem to fly with this particular project. I’m close to giving it up. You see, I have many scenes in mind (others are written) and I have all the characters as well as the ending and beginning, but I cannot for the life of me find the story in it. It’s both frustrating and immensely saddening. However, I keep working hard at it, hoping for a creative breakthrough of some kind. I am making progress, but very slowly… Do you remember the turtle and the hare in the fables of Jean de La Fontaine? The hare takes a break during the race and the turtle, though going at a slow pace, reaches the finish line first, thus winning the race. I like to believe I am the turtle with my novel.

Other than that, I told you I’d give you two book reviews when I’d come back and it’s true: you can expect them in the first week of August!

As for you, do you plan on writing a novella? If so, what is it about? If not, why?

Also, if you have tips on overcoming a major issue in a story (just like with my novel project), please do share them with me!

I’m posting this short message to inform you that I’ll be getting a new pacemaker (heart surgery) tomorrow, thus I shan’t be available for a week or two. I promise two book reviews when I come back though, yay! I’ll also implement the changes I talked about a few days ago.

I hope you all enjoyed the last post on Android’s Writing Apps. Since then, I got an iPhone SE that I love with all my heart (no kidding) and I finally got my hands on the Scrivener iOS app. It’s a little gem at my fingertips! I should look up World Scribe, though… in case it’s on iOS, too.

Anyhow, I don’t remember telling you, but I am working on a comic book script. Oh, and by the way, I am now part of a newspaper! Huh huh! It’s quarterly and I have to format it, produce about 1 to 3 texts (both literary and informative), and proofread it. It’s charity work, too. However, it gives me a foot in the industry… which I hope to be part of as a writer later on (paid, of course).

So, I’ve decided things would change around here:

There will be a lot of different writing advice. I don’t know if I ever told you, but I dabble into many fields. So expect writing advice pertaining to TV writing, comic book writing, novel writing, short story writing, poetry writing, and maybe even movie writing. I agree it’s a lot; however, there is no way for me to keep away from all these opportunities. Don’t worry, my main focus will still be novel writing, but let’s say I’ll publically add more diverse projects and posts to my blog.

I rarely publish my thoughts about anything except for book reviews. This is going to change. Now, don’t get me wrong: I shan’t talk of the sunny afternoon on a writing blog, unless it has something to do with the actual process of writing. I feel it’s now time to express myself more on important topics.

As you know, I love to learn languages. I speak French, English, Italian, and Spanish. I am also currently learning Greek, Polish, and Japanese. I realized that not talking about those on my blog actually bothered me. So, here’s what I intend to do to mix your interests and mine: I will post definitions and special uses of English words (some rare, some difficult, and some ordinary) in order to content myself and help us all in the art of mastering the English language (and improving our writing, too!).

Don’t you find there are not enough updates on my own writing? Me too. I will now post an update once a week. I will get to finishing that novel of mine, fellow adventurers!

I love a good conversation and I seldom get them on my blog. Thus, I decided to create threads about important writing points or issues, such as heroines/heroes, protagonists, villains, etc. We could communicate and share helpful tips and questions!

I hope these changes don’t scare you too much, but I feel they are necessary for me to still enjoy coming on here and give you the best I can.

See you next post (I have two book reviews coming up) and keep writing, glorious fellow adventurers!